> The Cookie Monsters and the Flesh Eater
>  by Hypnotwist
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> An unexpected meeting
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Rainbow Dash was not currently having a good time, in fact she was nearing a complete mental breakdown at the realization that she may or may not have accidentally caused a zombie apocalypse that would result in the end the world. With her back pressing against the corner far right of Applejack's barn, she was staring down her once living friends as they shambled towards her, moaning and groaning about cookies.
She swung a flimsy stick she'd picked up earlier at one of the infected that drew too close to her, resulting in the zombie shambling back much to Rainbow's surprise. Rainbow desperately looked around the barn, the moonlight filtering in through the barricaded windows and open spaces just barely illuminated the space around her, giving the prismatic maned mare just enough light to look for any escape routes as the undead moved forward to consume their prey.

She gripped her stick and held it close to her chest as her eyes darted around the barn, eventually she was lucky enough to spot an opening that the infected had broken through that should be enough to squeeze through if she was swift and careful enough. Without a second thought she darted past the zombies towards the gap, immediately dropping the stick she was holding in her grip in favor of flapping her wings to give herself a little extra speed, as soon as she got close enough to the opening she all but dove through the moderately sized hole from where the undead broke through the defenses, landing less than gracefully on the dirt surrounding the barn with a grunt.
Rainbow took no time to stand up and brush herself off, the fresh night air hitting her coat felt euphoric as the mare steadied her panicked breathing. "I did it.. I got out. Hah, I knew I could do it!"

She sighed in relief, glad that she was out of danger for a moment or two, however her brief moment of relaxation was quickly and brutally ruined when she heard the infected ponies in the barn start banging on the barricaded windows and their grunts and moans as they attempt to squeeze through the hole that only moments before was utilized in her own escape.
She knew she had to get somewhere secure before she could further formulate a plan for going forward now that the world was ending. Rainbow galloped in the direction of Applejack's house, the infected that had cornered her were temporarily stuck in the barn and that bought her at least a couple minutes to scrounge for supplies, Rainbow was pretty confident that the Apple family had some preserves she could snag that could keep her well fed for at least a week.
She pushed herself to gallop for longer than she was normally comfortable with, she told herself that this wasn't Wonderbolts training anymore, this was a life or death situation and she had to be in good shape in order to survive.

She rushed into the farmhouse and slammed the door behind her, sitting down with her back against it to catch her breath and be able to get a view of anypony or anything coming towards her from inside the building before they could get to her. Tears pricked her eyes and for the first time in what felt like ages the confident and cocky mare puts her hoof over her mouth to muffle her terrified sobs, she had no clue if her parents were alive or if the infection had spread to other regions of Equestria and she was utterly terrified and hopeless.
Her sobs were soon cut short when she heard the floorboards creak, her ears swiveled and she looked around the pitch black room for any sign of whatever caused the creaking. Her heart thumped hard in her chest as the creaking of floorboards sounded as if it was coming closer and closer to the mare with each passing second.

Rainbow Dash managed to squeak out a terrified and pathetic sounding "Hello?"

"Uhnn.."

The mare gulped and tried to press her back further onto the door to get as far away from whoever or whatever was in the building with her. It frustrated her that she was so scared and useless in the situation she was now very likely permanently stuck in, she is Rainbow 'Danger' Dash and she could do anything! So why was she so scared? "H-Hello?"

Whatever was making the noise grunted and it's undead hoofsteps made it's way to the kitchen where it turned on the sink and rummaged around the kitchen cabinets, letting out strained grunts and moans of.. Pain?

She sat there trying to will her limbs to move to no success, she was exhausted and worried about her loved ones that weren't in Ponyville, wondering if they even knew of the danger that was no doubt lurking in the streets everywhere by now.
She attempted to keep her breaths steady, instead ending up with uneven and shallow breaths with her heart beating out of control. When the sink was shut off Rainbow swore her heart skipped a beat, she knew she was next.

The zombie sighed and audibly sniffed the air, taking a moment before attempting speech. "He-" It sputtered and dry coughed, wheezing a couple times as it tried again and again, eventually choking out a raspy. "Hello?"

Rainbow felt her heart somehow thump harder in her chest, she took a deep yet shaky breath and summoned her courage to talk. "Hi?"

"Well it's-" It coughed again, it's voice incredibly hoarse. "Good to know that-" And again. "Somepony is able to talk to me."

"So-" She began to very slowly relax "Are you- What- Are you another survivor?"

"It's very.. Complicated."

She said nothing, waiting for the pony to continue. She didn't exactly believe whoever it was at the moment, she needed to physically see that they were no threat.

"But if it makes you-" It hacked and sputtered for a moment. "Feel better, I'm no threat. Just a stallion, not one of them.. Cookie freaks."

"Then why are you acting so strange? First it was your weird freaky groaning and now- Now you're saying weird things." Rainbow slowly stood up from her position on the floor to cautiously move closer to where she spotted the silhouette of the stallion standing in Applejack's kitchen.

"Do you promise not to freak out when you see me?"

"... You're just a normal stallion right? Of course I won't freak when I see you." She scoffed. "Do you think I'm a pansy?"

"No, I don't. I just.. Remember when I said 'It's very complicated'?"

"Yep."

He sighed and let out a dry, painful sounding cough. "I mean it. It's very complicated. I will explain everything once we're done with this whole cookie mess. But please know I am not your enemy, I promise."

She frowned and hesitated to take another step towards him, if anything she wanted to step back and get more distance between them both. She stood watching as his silhouette moved towards the kitchen light switch. "Do you Pinkie swear?"

"A what swear?"

"Nevermind, sorry."

The mystery stallion let out a soft hum as he flipped the light switch that then bathed the entire kitchen in a warm light, he turned to face the mare, his milky green eyes meeting her magenta ones. His fur was dark grey with chunks of flesh peeling off so muscle and bone were exposed for everypony to see, his mane was various shades of green, the tip of his mane was bright green with his mane progressively getting darker in color the further down it went until it looked black. "My name is Venomous Repentance, what's yours?"
> Advice from the dead is surprisingly decent
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"I-" Rainbow stumbled back at the sight of the living corpse, the way chunks of his flesh were peeling off of his body made her want to vomit right then and there. "I- H-How are you even walking? How are you alive?"

"Oh, I'm not alive actually. I don't really know why I'm back so soon, however what I do know is that those 'zombies' out there aren't exactly undead. Nor are they under a spell, they're just dumb ponies trying to scare you." Venomous tried to scoff, moving over to the sink to refill his empty glass that he'd placed on the counter before he turned on the light. "Now I may be a flesh eating being, but what your town is doing is offensive."

She stood slack jawed, she couldn't understand why the town would do such a mean spirited thing. She also couldn't understand how or why there was a real zombie roaming Equestria. "Whuh?"

Venom filled the cup up with water and took a sip, the water eased his unbearably dry throat and it was heaven to him. "I still never got your name miss."

"Rainbow Dash."

"Miss Dash, pretty name. Anyways, I would like to speak to whoever is in charge about such offensive displays, the overwhelming majority of us undead do not behave in such an inappropriate way and if any of my friends saw this they would also be incredibly offended."

Rainbow nodded slowly, all the zombie movies she's watched in the past were now quickly becoming irrelevant and possibly offensive to actual zombies. "Well there's mayor Mare, but then there's my friend Twilight, who's an actual princess and probably has more power than mayor Mare."

"I'd like to speak with her." He stopped to sniff the air. "As soon as we deal with your er.. Friends?"

"How? They're probably going to freak when they figure out you're a legit zombie."

"They're going around masquerading as undead en masse, why should they be surprised when a real one appears?"

"I- That sort of makes sense. You still will freak a lot of them out though even if you aren't instantly trying to eat their flesh."

"Bah, let them be scared." Venom snorted and set his glass down harder than he'd intended, causing Rainbow to flinch. "They're going around perpetuating zombie stereotypes and if they can't handle being confronted by a real zombie then they shouldn't've have been so rude."

"I don't really think they meant to do that."

"They probably barely think at all, I mean is it really necessary to trick you into thinking we've risen up and are trying to feast on ponies?" He turned to face her, a look of genuine concern in his dead eyes.

"No.." She murmured. "Maybe it's a revenge prank."

"It's not a funny joke."

"No it's not." Rainbow sighed and moved over to the window by the Apple family's antique couch to glance outside at the incoming group of 'zombified' ponies. "I'm a bad friend for pranking them when they didn't find it funny."

Venom sighed and filled his glass with water again, walking over next to where his acquaintance was standing, he didn't exactly know how bad her behavior was, but he didn't approve of such a mean spirited joke even if she did deserve it. "Did they ask you to stop?"

"Nope."

He grunted and looked out the window as well, catching sight of the rainbow coloring around their mouths, it stood out. And not in a good way. They looked normal other than their ridiculous rainbow gaping mouths. "Sweet Celestia they look stupid."

Rainbow Dash chortled and covered her mouth as she laughed, his deadpan delivery is what made his statement so humorous. "I guess, now that I know that they aren't actually trying to kill me they do look kinda dumb."

"It may be a decent idea confront them about this. This is too stupid to continue, good grief.." He trotted over to the door without waiting for a reply and used his less decayed hoof to push it open and step outside into the cool night air. He took as deep of a breath as was physically possible and made sure the ponies in front of him heard his mighty roar, he was in control and he was going to make sure they knew it. "RAAAAUGH."

The townsponies immediately froze and cast their horrified gaze onto the reason for the unnatural roar. Venom stood there in his undead glory glaring at the faux zombies and holding his glass of water. "If I had any blood left, it would be boiling currently as your behavior is disgusting for two reasons." He began hacking and spitting up brown, clearly dead blood. "One, this cruel 'prank' you're pulling on your friend has likely caused trauma, and two, you are all being highly disrespectful of zombies like myself."

Several of the denizens screamed and stumbled back at the sight of the stallion, some used some of their comrades as living shields to protect themselves should he become aggressive. Eventually a couple of the braver ponies stepped forward to communicate with the stallion standing so stock still in front of Applejack's door. "Sir, if ah may- We had no idea that we were bein' offensive."

"That isn't the main issue." He snapped and took a menacing step towards the mare who'd opened her mouth. "While I'm seriously offended at your portrayal of quote unquote zombies, the main issue lies with your treatment of your friend, neighbor, whatever she is to you."

"We were tryin'-"

"To teach her a lesson? Did you ask her to stop whatever she was doing that was annoying you?"

"I- No.." The mare said sheepishly, not able to look the stallion in the eyes.

"Exactly, I find it quite interesting how a dead stallion such as myself has more living braincells than you lot combined."

"Now that ain't nice mister.. Uh.."

He scoffed and bit back a bitter retort, instead he took a breath that shouldn't have been possible and brought a forehoof up to rub his temple. "I am- I was Lord Venomous Repentance, though I doubt I hold a noble title currently as it was likely passed down to my son Corrosive Charm after my death per my instructions. I would say it is a pleasure to meet you-" He let out a dry cough that left a burning sensation in his throat. "But it really is not, given how you are playing a cruel joke on your fellow pony."

The orange mare in front of him looked down in shame with her ears pinned back. "I.."

"No, let me speak." He interrupted sharply and gestured back towards the house, his breaths coming out as short gasps or wheezes. "Your friend was in there fearing for her life. She thought she was going to fight each day to be able to even see the next sunrise, I heard her grieving for the world that she thought was never coming back. You should be ashamed of yourselves."

Several of the citizens of Ponyville murmured amongst themselves with many remaining silent either out of shame or fear, or both. Venomous sighed and turned around to go fetch Rainbow Dash from inside, he believed it would be best if the 'zombies' heard how she felt firsthoof. He could feel their eyes on him as he pushed the door open and stepped inside the building. "Miss Dash? I would like you to confront your fellow townsponies and give them a firsthoof testimony as to how distressed you were."

There was silence for a moment as Rainbow shifted from her position on the couch, she craned her neck to look at him and shook her head vigorously. "I can't! They'd think I'm a coward, or that I'm not awesome."

"Rainbow Dash." Venomous began, sounding like a father comforting his foal after a nightmare, unfortunately that was immediately followed by a painful cough and dead blood spilling from his mouth. "If I were in your position I would be devastated if I believed my loved ones were deceased or infected with an unknown virus that was causing the dead to rise and become cannibalistic monsters who would stop at nothing to feast on the flesh of the living. You would be no less 'awesome' for being scared in a situation that seemed like the world was ending."

"I mean yeah- But-"

"Hush now. No buts." He chided gently and took a sip of his water, the cold liquid going down his painfully dry throat felt heavenly. "You are no less awesome or courageous for communicating with your fellow townsponies about how you felt. However if you truly don't want to I will not force you."

The rainbow maned pegasus took a deep breath and nodded, she wasn't in any danger, the whole thing was just a mean prank. She could tell them it wasn't funny and they made her think the whole world was ending. "No, I will. This prank really wasn't funny, but I deserved it."

"Even if you believe so my friend, they should've sat you down and spoke to you about it before resorting to such extreme measures. I still am rather offended about the whole 'cookie zombie' thing, yet I'm certain I could speak to your princess friend after this whole debacle has ended if I'm still here."

"Yeah." She said quietly, her next words came out louder and much more confident. "Yeah! What they did was super uncool and somepony could've gotten seriously hurt."

Venom smiled and made his way to the kitchen sink to once again refill his glass with water. "If you'd like you can go outside alone to confront them or I could go with you."

"Up to you Venom, I don't mind!"

His smile grew wider upon hearing her nickname for him, he made a mental note he'd have to come up with a nickname for her later if he was still 'alive'. "I suspect my presence may intimidate them further so it'd be better if I stay here. That way you may talk to your friends, neighbors, whatever without them feeling like if they say the wrong thing I will harm them."

"Okay, okay.. I got this."

"Indeed you do."

Rainbow Dash nodded and gave him two thumbs up with her wings, one of the many perks of having wings was the various gestures ponies could make with them. "I'll be back soon I think, I still have to explain why I'm in one of my best friends' house though."

"They will forgive you, or at the very least understand why you were taking shelter in this building. Now go, if you need me I will be here."

Rainbow took a deep breath, she knew what she did wasn't cool but what the town did in response to her was super uncool. She pushed the door open with a forehoof and stepped outside, the frigid night air on her fur helped ease her feverish body. "Uh.. Hey AJ, hi guys-"